EA has updated its list of Service Updates, revealing multiplayer servers that are hitting end-of-life (thanks Polygon). They say such decisions are never easy, explaining: "We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage." They also announce a change for their free-to-play games, saying they will all begin using the same virtual currency called "Play4Free Funds," a name which may strike users as ironic when they pay for them. There are only a few PC titles impacted: The Sims 2 for PC/MAC and TheSims2.com will shut down on January 14, FIFA Soccer 11 for PC and consoles will conclude on January 11, and FIFA Manager 11 for PC ends on January 3.

Styopa wrote on Dec 31, 2012, 12:47:If it was a matter of cutting costs at EA (and not just a money-grab as a new sequel is coming out), then just enable peer-to-peer support, allowing the allegedly few people who still care about the game to run their own servers?

No, I thought not.

LOL yeah. Funny how the EA apologists never seem to have an answer to this. They blubber on about how Bluesnews posters are somehow different than the rest of the internet and refuse to actually engage on how full of shit the motives and methodology are.

Running a fucking authentication server is such a big deal apparently!